Sleep On It: Measuring Our Words Wisely | 874

Have you ever said something to your kids you wish you hadn’t said? We’ve all been there. Today’s podcast offers encouragement for the mom who wishes she hadn’t said that thing that she said.

Today’s Scripture Writing Challenge Verse

  • Revelations 21:5

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TRANSCRIPTION:

This podcast is brought to you by my friends at Evangelical Christian Credit Union

Hey friends, this is Heidi St. John. Welcome to the podcast. Today is Monday, January the 20th, and Oh my goodness you guys, I have … well, a couple of things. You can tell in my voice that I have been really struggling with the flu. We came home from Florida and I had been sick ever since so my podcast going to be a little bit shorter today, but I’ve got some encouragement for the mom who wishes she hadn’t said that thing that she said. Stick around, I think you’re going to be encouraged

So thanks for tuning in today you guys. I really appreciate it. Like I said a few minutes ago, I’m going to keep this podcast short because I’m really working hard at getting my voice back, which I lost for several days in this sort of winter flu that I seem to have caught. A couple of things coming up that I am saving my voice specifically for and the thing I’m really excited about is in Texas. Coming up this weekend, I will be at Grace Church in Frisco for the Texas Homeschool Coalition Winter Summit and I’m really excited about that. If you guys have never done the Moms Winter Summit, this is a great time for you to come out and get encouraged and supported and strengthened and we are going to have a really good time. And my friend Roxanne Parks is doing this with me and we’re going to spend the whole weekend just pouring into you and encouraging you in the word of God.

So I want you guys, put this on your calendar if you’re anywhere near Frisco, Texas, you do not want to miss this opportunity, January 24th and 25th. And I will link back to registration for that in the show notes today or if you’re savvy enough to write this down, you can go to wintersummit.thsc.org. The following weekend, we’ll be doing the same thing in Rosenberg, Texas, so near Houston, at Cornerstone Community Bible Church. That’s another opportunity for you to come on out and get encouraged. Bring a mom with you who just really needs to be encouraged and be reminded that this thing we’re doing, this motherhood thing we’re doing, really is worth it. And so I just want to encourage you come on out and you guys are going to be encouraged, the Texas Homeschool Coalition Homeschool Moms Winter Summit.

Another thing I want to be talking about today is the March For Life, which starts today in Washington, D.C. and the rally is Friday, January the 24th and even though I’m not there, I am praying for them. You guys, I’ve been praying my whole life to see an end to abortion in this nation and we need to really be praying that that is exactly what happens. We were praying really that if it grieves God’s heart, it would grieve our heart too, that we would be moved to action. And I love what they’re doing at the March For Life and I hope you guys will support them through prayer and financially, if you’re able. And if you’re anywhere in that area, I hope you guys are going to turn out and really show your faces in support of life and really defending the unborn.

All right, a couple of things. Normally I do Mailbox Monday today, but as you can tell, I am really struggling with my voice and so I’m going to keep it short today. But I have been writing a book and one of the things I’ve written about recently that really, I don’t know, just resonated with me because hello, I’m a mom. I titled a devotion: I wish I hadn’t said that. And I wrote this after I got into an altercation with one of my kids, and I’m not even going to tell you I didn’t have a good reason to be mad. I think I had a pretty good reason to be upset, but the Bible teaches us in Psalm 4:4, that we are not to let anger control us. It says, don’t sin by letting anger control you. Think about it overnight and remain silent. I’m going to let that sit.

Have you guys ever opened your mouth and instantly wished that you’d kept quiet? Normally today I do questions at Mailbox Monday and about 45 minutes ago when I thought I had the vocal energy to answer your questions, there was a question in particular from a mom who just felt such regret over some things that she had said to her children over a period of years. And I just want to encourage you, don’t get to that point.

I know that I have said things that I regretted and as I look back over my nearly 30 years of motherhood, my biggest regrets, you guys, they’re not things that I did or things that I didn’t do. They are things that I said that I wish I could take back, things I said in anger, things I sit in hurt or frustration, things I said because I was operating from a place of fear or something I said in a moment of exhaustion.

And I know if you guys are listening and if you’re anything like me, my hunch is that you’ve been there too. I think most of us have had a moment, dads too, when we let our emotions get the best of us. In my life and with the moms that I know, we call these mom moments, moments, right? You guys know what I mean? There are things we say when we’re at the end of our rope, it happens. But God says that there’s a way to keep it from becoming part of the rhythm of our parenting and becoming a habit in our friendships. Are you guys ready for God’s solution? Hang onto your hat, right, because the Holy spirit is going to blow your hat right off of you.

The solution is to be quiet. The solution is to be quiet. You guys, the solution is to be quiet online. If you feel like what you’re going to say isn’t going to be constructive, you don’t even have to listen right now, I’m just going to talk to myself. If I feel like what I have to say isn’t constructive then it’s time for me to back up and go to the Lord in prayer and say, “Lord, help me to know when to speak and when to be quiet.” And this is easy to say and hard to do, but like all of God’s commands, the peaceful fruit that follows is worth every act of obedience and self control that you can muster in order to be quiet.

You see, when we let our anger control us, the Bible says that we’re sinning and God’s solution is to walk away before we say something that we’ll regret. Before our frustration causes humiliation. You guys ever said anything that just embarrassed you later? Before fear overshadows the love that we have in our heart for the person that we’re frustrated with. Before exhaustion clouds our judgment, before any of that, God’s word says sleep on it.

So if you’re struggling right now, if you’re struggling to control your tongue, even if you are justified in your anger, be still. Ask the Lord to help you. Ask the Lord to give you the wisdom that he offers through His Word. So before you get to that point, I’m just going to encourage you to go before the Lord and say, “Lord, help me. I need to know what you want me to say. I need to know when to say it. I need to know how to say it.” And this goes with the contentious environment that we live in, in the world right now.

As we speak, our faith should speak with boldness, but it should also speak with humility. And when you see something that’s wrong around you, ask the Lord to help you to respond in the way that he would want you to respond. He would want us to be bold, but he would also want us to be gracious and kind.

Now there’s a point, and I mean we’re kind of moving away from the other stuff right now, right? There’s a point in which things happen in the culture when we just have to say, “Nope, no time for niceties. This has to be done.” And in fact, I got a letter from a listener a couple of days ago and it literally moved me to tears. So if you’re listening to this and you’re the person that sent me this … There’s a brand new book in the library and I’ll be talking about it in the days to come.

And actually, I’m asking the Lord right now what he wants me to do because I’m not sure. But the images in this book, and they’re marketing this book to 12 year olds in the library, I found myself just in my spirit, this righteous indignation. I know that the father hates what we are doing to our children in the culture right now. And so my response had to be, “Lord, what do you want me to do? How can I respond?” And every single person that’s listening to this right now, we all have areas of our lives where we need to come before the Lord before we say anything so that our words are God’s words and not our own words and it’s never been more important than it is right now.

I had the opportunity to speak to a bunch of people about homeschooling through high school the other day and we were talking about relationships and I reminded them of what I’m going to remind you and then we’re going to wrap it up for the day. Long after you close the last page of your math book, long after you’re done teaching your children about history and spelling and reading and math, by the grace of God, you’re going to have a relationship with that child that will take you through the rest of your life. Watch what you say, measure your words carefully. We want our children to know that they are loved beyond measure and that we are in their corner and we are for them. And part of the way we do that is by coming to the Lord and asking him to help us in our speech and to measure our words.

I know that it’s important to every single one of you who listen to this because I know that you love your kids and God says that we are His ambassadors. We are first His ambassadors at home and then to a world that’s watching.

A couple other things I want to let you guys know about before I leave today. On February 4th, I’m going to be doing The Foundation Summit. I’m keynoting that. I’m really excited you guys are going to be so encouraged and we’re going to be live streaming this thing in its entirety on the BJU Press Homeschool Facebook page, and so I’m going to link back to that in the show notes today. That’s coming up on February the fourth and so don’t miss it, mark it on your calendar. You guys can hear me speak live at that event. I’m really excited about that.

Also, Faith That Speaks, my women’s conference, coming up February 21st and 22nd in Lakeland, Florida. My friend Elizabeth Johnston, the activist mommy and Fox news analyst Kathy Barnett are going to be joining me as guest speakers for the Lakeland event and so this is a great time you guys. Early bird registration, which is a free gift and a skip-the-line pass, hello, who doesn’t want that, is available right now at heidistjohn.com/events. This is an awesome opportunity for you to meet some women whose faith is already speaking and learn how your faith can speak and change the world around you.

I really appreciate you guys listening. As always, I want to thank my podcast sponsor and our sponsor is Evangelical Christian Credit Union and if you are just now joining me at the podcast I’ve been sharing about these guys for quite awhile. ECCU has a variety of tools for you to use while teaching your children financial responsibility. Their start young account is specifically designed to help teach children to be good stewards of their money. And with ECCU, it’s easy to monitor your child’s banking activity and transfer money into their account for things like allowance and purchases and best of all there are no overdraft fees. So you can learn more about my friends at Evangelical Christian Credit Union at eccu.org/heidi.

Thanks for listening today everybody. Thanks for putting up with my voice. I would really appreciate your prayers as this is the beginning of my speaking season. I’ll see a whole bunch of you this weekend at the Texas Homeschool Coalitions Homeschool Moms Winter Summit at Grace Church in Frisco.

Hang in there you guys. Speak the truth in love to those around you and stay faithful. Your kids are watching.

Write to Heidi:
Heidi St. John
c/o Firmly Planted Family
11100 NE 34th Cir, Vancouver, WA 98682

Support this ministry by donating through E-giving. You can also send donations to: 11100 NE34th Cir, Vancouver, WA 98682

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About Heidi St. John

Heidi has been married to her husband Jay since 1989. Together they have seven children and three grandchildren! The St. Johns homeschooled their kids all the way through high school. Heidi is the the author of seven books, host of the popular podcast "Off the Bench," and the founder of MomStrong International, an online community of women learning God's Word and how to apply it to every day life. She and her husband Jay are also the founders of Firmly Planted Family and the Firmly Planted Homeschool Resource Center, located in Vancouver, Washington.